German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has once again denied involvement in the country’s “Cum-Ex” fraud scandal.
Appearing for the third time before the Hamburg state parliamentary committee investigating the case, Scholz – a former mayor of the northern German city – said tax evasion and fraud are “not petty offenses, but serious criminal offenses.”
“I have spent my entire political life campaigning for a fair tax system,” said Scholz.
The chancellor added that the potential fraud involving two Hamburg-based banks “must be consistently investigated and prosecuted.”
In the Cum-Ex fraud scheme, financial investors shifted stock shares back and forth around dividend payment dates to aggressively exploit an apparent loophole in tax law.
The scandal badly hit Germany, although the scheme also impacted other countries.
By swapping shares with (“cum” in Latin) and without (“ex”) dividend entitlements back and forth, players in the scheme were able to receive tax refunds from the German government – despite having never paid the taxes in the first place.
